House Republicans have decided to move forward with a plan that would dare Senate Democrats to shut down the government next week if they don’t accept a military spending bill paired with a measure to keep the rest of the government open after Dec. 22.

Michael Dourson, a former chemical industry consultant who was tapped to oversee chemical safety at the Environmental Protection Agency, withdrew his nomination after Republican senators raised concerns about his past work and possible conflicts of interest, according to a Trump administration official.

Walt Disney Co. is expected to announce the acquisition of a large chunk of 21st Century Fox Inc. on Thursday. The deal is the biggest ever for Disney and a significant milestone in the long career of Australia-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

President Donald Trump called the newly elected senator from Alabama, Democrat Doug Jones, to congratulate him on his victory and invite him to the White House, even as the Republican candidate has yet to concede.

Microsoft Corp., battling to improve its internet search capabilities and prove its mettle in the increasingly competitive field of artificial intelligence, is adding features to Bing that improve search within images and give people more context in answers.

With its latest rate increase, the Federal Reserve followed through on its plan to tighten three times in 2017. Now, bond traders are starting to load up on cheap bets that officials will deliver on their projections next year too.

Puerto Rico’s electrical grid is unlikely to be fully restored until the end of May, the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday -- months longer than the timeline offered by the island’s governor.

A provision to treat graduate school tuition waivers as taxable income won’t be in the final House-Senate tax package, according to Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana and one other person briefed on a tentative deal reached Wednesday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., working with two financial-technology startups, will allow its 1.5 million-strong U.S. workforce to draw on their salary ahead of payday -- or squirrel some of it away for a rainy day.